Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the detainment of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect ICE agents.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for endangering Immigration agents!" Trump posted on his platform early Wednesday. "The Illinois governor as well!"
Both officials are members of the Democratic faction.
Trump's statements come alongside the deployment of state military personnel in the Chicago region under orders from the federal administration, despite vehement protests from state officials such as Pritzker and Johnson.
"This marks not the first instance where Trump attempted to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I am staying anywhere."
The governor responded via online channels, declaring: "I refuse to back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What's next on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
As of midweek, National Guard troops from Texas had arrived at the Elwood army reserve center, a military installation approximately 50 miles from Chicago, as the federal government pushes forward with its hardline crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
The president has called Chicago a "crime-ridden disaster zone", even though official statistics indicate significant drops in most criminal activities, such as murders.
On Wednesday, 200 Texas National Guard members were expected to deploy to the region, with an additional three hundred state military personnel readying for deployment, per sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would protect ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with state guard patches were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Mobile units were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the perimeter.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed flight restrictions over the military base for security reasons until 6 December.
Federal authorities has escalated immigration enforcement in Chicago in the past month, triggering demonstrations, especially near an processing facility in Broadview.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to block the military dispatch, urging a federal judge to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, labeling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for the next day.
The mayor also issued an executive order on Monday prohibiting federal immigration agents and related personnel from using city-owned property as staging areas for enforcement actions.
The governor has accused Trump of using military forces as "political props" and "pawns".
At a news conference on the previous day, Pritzker said that Trump is trying to "rationalize and normalize the deployment of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the army's involvement in civilian law enforcement. Yet, Trump has stated he would be willing to invoke the emergency powers, which permits a commander-in-chief to dispatch regular army in regions that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has sent or mentioned deploying troops to over ten urban centers, such as major metropolitan areas and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to fight violence and protect ICE officers.
Statistics shows that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for instance, homicides were reduced nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, per law enforcement reports.
A recent poll published on that day found that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.
